Bert Stern, Fashion Photographer

Fashion photographer Bert Stern died aged 83 the other week. In his memory, here is a post about him and his work. 

An inspiration for all fashion/advertising photographers.

Stern was known for his photographs of Marilyn Monroe. He photographed her for US Vogue just six weeks before her death. The shots were later published in a book entitled 'The Last Sitting' which were taken in the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, June 1962. 

Along with fellow photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, he is widely credited for having redefined fashion and advertising imagery in the 50's and 60's, he had a cleaner, more candid approach to his subjects. 

Stern was born in New York on 3rd October, 1929. 

His first experience of taking pictures was for the US army for whom he worked as a photographer on a base in Japan. He then went onto working at 'Look' magazine where his art director Hershel Bramson later gave him his first big job as a commercial photographer - a Smirnoff campaign, which featured a close-up of a Martini with an Egyptian Pyramid in the background. 

He has photographed; Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Truman Copote and Sophie Dahl..to name a few.